


Whatever it takes (to come back to you)

by thatdragonchic



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Macgyver Universe, Ohio Ops team, Zeus Foundation, but not really, mentions of Mac, mentions of jasper/mac, ops team, other ops team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 21:25:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17795024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatdragonchic/pseuds/thatdragonchic
Summary: a rather upsetting Zeus Foundation Found Family Valentine





	Whatever it takes (to come back to you)

The morning had been so pleasant. Everything had been so pleasant. All it took was a file, a flash drive, a few hours in the war room. Video after video, and he knew. He knew what had happened who had done it. It was inevitable. He used to him better than anybody had known him before. They used to be best friends. They used to be _ brothers _ . He’d saved him, he’d help shape him in the field. Jasper knew… 

He couldn’t believe it, standing there, staring at the screen. He knew, he knew, he knew. He knew who’d done it. He knew who’d created the bomb, who’d made those tricks, who’d hurt those people. He knew. There was no doubt in his mind, and he has to swallow his tears as he walks down the corridor, and he straightens his back, he adjusts his jacket, raises his head, and Mel’s worried, watching Jasper becoming a hardened agent.

This was going to break him, his heart was crushing right in front of her, as she watches him try to swallow the tears. She wants to reassure him, but they all knew. They all used to love him, they all used to know him so well. 

“There’s no guarantee he’s going to be in that room,” she says softly.

“We both know it was him… he’s going to be in there.” 

“I can go in there.”

“No… I have to go in there. I need to be the one to face him.” 

 

\- 4 years prior, Jasper was 22 - 

 

They stood at the interrogation window, the look of agony on his partners face was crushing. There was a pain in Jasper’s heart like no other, only for the man who was forced to face his old partner in that room, the way it killed him entirely. The look in his eyes, a weakness he’d never seen before. 

“I don’t understand…” Jasper had said.

“Kid, this is a dirty job… people do real fucked up things just to get by. Lose their minds in the field because… because it gets to their head. You save the world and nobody knows you any different. You kill that man and nobody could ever convict you for it.... You’re a god, you’re a monster. That’s the way it is.” He shakes his head, and Jasper watches him, watches the tear that wells his eyes. “Promise me you won’t become like him. Promise me you won’t let our world crack you.”

“I’ve already done the dirty part of the job… I don’t want to be the bad guy again.”

Casper looks so broken for him for a moment, and rubs his shoulder. “You’re going to save the world.”

“And I don’t want anyone to know it… I could go in for you.”

“Coroners office, that’s what they’re gonna call your interrogation room.”

“I mean it,” Jasper says, seriously.

“No… I have to go in there. I need to be the one to face him.” 

 

\- Present day - 

 

They stand outside the interrogation room, staring into the black, one sided window. They couldn’t see anything, the advanced screen blacked out. Mel reaches it to tap it, Jasper shaking his head. 

“Don’t.”

“You don’t have to go in there.”

“I do…”

She nods, rubbing his bicep, and he takes a deep breath, putting himself in the headspace. “Jasper…” she says softly, taking his arm before he can go in. “Whatever happens in there, honey, just know he never did it to hurt  _ you _ .” 

Jasper shuts his eyes, exhaling and she wipes the one tear that falls, biting back her own tears. “I know… I just… I wish he hadn’t done it at all. I don’t understand.”

“You don’t have to, you just have to go in there and do your job. What happens after… well, that’s for someone else to decide.”

Jasper nods, smoothing out his jacket again, hands shaking a bit. She takes his face in her hands, forcing him to look her in the eye.

“You’re stronger than this. You and I both know it… You need to think clearly, you need to go in there, and you need to do your thing. You’re Jasper Sheriff, the best agent in the  _ world _ , and god forbid this were the one thing who stops you. The true test here is whether or not you can handle walking in there. The second you can’t, is the second you lose the status you’ve gained. It is so easy to be demolished, and you know it.”

He nods, letting her wipe what few tears escape, and she lets him gain his composure. 

 

\- 3 years ago, Jasper is 23 - 

 

They’re laying on the floor, sucking on hardy mike ice pops. It was late June, Jasper curled into his side, cheek pressed against his bicep.

“What’s on your mind?” he asks and Jasper shakes his head.

“It’s nothing.”

“Jas…”

Jasper sits up, and he sits up too, looking him dead in the eye. “It’s nothing…”

“Listen, if it gives you that look in your eyes, it’s something. Come on… what’s going on in that head of yours? Is it that shit boyfriend of yours?”

Jasper bites off a chunk of the ice pop, just sucking on it, giving him a reason to keep quiet. He stays there, waiting. Patient, quiet. And so gentle. 

“You can tell me anything,” he says after a few minutes. 

Jasper swallows, looking up at him. “You can’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t, what did he do?”

“I mean it, not even Mel… she’d kill him if she knew.”

“Jasper… what did the son of a bitch do?”

“He…” Jasper takes in a deep breath. “He wasn’t thinking, he was- it doesn’t matter-”

“What are you talking about.”

Jasper rolls up his flannel sleeve, revealing a small scab. He raises his brow, and Jasper seems ashamed, defeated. “He forced me to shoot up with him.”

“Are you okay?”

“I don’t really remember much… It wasn’t a lot. It was… I don’t know. A small dose.” 

“You’ve done drugs before?”

“No, I just… It wasn’t much.”

“You don’t remember anything?”

He shakes his head. “Just everything hurt this morning and he was gone… I don’t know what happened to him, I don’t know if Mel was over.”

He nods, leaning over to pull Jasper into a hug. Jasper falls into him, he had never felt more  _ safe _ than he did in that moment.

“I used to drugs,” he says pulling back, a serious looking his eyes, but they squinted just slightly, his nose scrunched up. Jasper laughs.

“You’re making that face you make when you’re lying.”

“Am I lying?”

“Got high on books?”

“Snorted the words,” he teases, the two laughing, leaning foreheads. “You gotta dump him, kid… He’s no good for you.”

“I will, I promise.”

“I don’t want to lose you, Jasper. You’re everything to us… you’re so special to me.”

“He says that too… nobody I love stays. Love hurts.”

“I won’t hurt you, you and me? We’re the best friends to ever exist, okay?”

He holds out his pinky and Jasper hesitates before locking his own pinky with the others.

“I won’t ever do anything to lose you…” he says, and Jasper believes him. Jasper  _ believes  _ him. 

 

\- present day - 

 

Walking through the door is what hurts the most, he looked so much… smaller than he remembered. His eyes are hollow, empty as he looks up at him.

“Looks like I stepped into the coroner's office,” he muses, the words are empty, his eyes are dull. He looks like he hasn’t slept in days, he probably hasn’t. Jasper sits down across from him.

“I suppose you have. You don’t seem prepared for an interrogation.”

“I’m prepared.”

“You seem tired. I need you to be able to answer the questions-”

“Do you believe I did it?” he asks suddenly and Jasper looks up from the file he’d opened up, and finally looks him in the eye. “I didn’t do this Jasper, you and I both know-” 

His words keep going, but Jasper is watching him, sees the squint in his eyes, the way his nose scrunched slightly, and the tears that welled in his eyes, how Jasper couldn’t believe him. His whole world shatters inside him, and his voice is so painful.  _ I would never do anything to lose you.  _

“Jasper you have to believe me…”

“Carter… You and I both know you can’t lie to me. Nobody can lie to me.”

“Jasper…. Please, I’m not lying. I would never do anything to hurt you. You’re my brother.”

“You left… under odd circumstances, I saw the evidence the videos, the… the bodies. I know what you did. I know that you did it. You know that you did it. So admit to it.”

“Jasper-”

“This job gets messy, and people do fucked up things to get by-”

“Don’t use what I said against me-”

“You let the complex get to your head- you were a god, you were nothing. That’s what you said isn’t it? Well which was it, were you a god for killing those people, because no god I’ve read up on would ever feel that kind of power from harming someone-”

“You don’t know-”

“Then let me know. Tell me the truth…” He waits. “Fables won’t help you. I need the truth.. And what happens after that-”

“We were best friends-”

“We’re not friends.”

“Jason-!”

That’s when the switch flipped.

“I’m here to get answers. You have to give them to me,” Jaspers decides shutting his eyes and taking out the electrocution button, he sets it down, and he gets up, goes the coffee machine in the corner, pouring the hot coffee. “I hope you’re a coffee person,” he says as if he doesn’t know. “Because we’re going to be here for about two hours.” This was his usual spiel. Carter looks at him devestated, watching Jasper straighten, his face harden, his voice deepen. 

“ _ Jace- _ You have to believe me.”

“I get bored fast, and i don’t have patience for people who act out. The shackles on your legs are electrocuted, and you can convince yourself you don’t feel pain, but trust me, you are going to feel it.” There was a dark look in his eyes. “If I don’t get the answers I need by the time the two hours are up, another interrogater is going to take my place. And two hours after that, if you still haven’t complied, I’m going to come back in here. If you lash out now, you’ll get shocked, if you lash out when I come back… you’re not going to be happy.”

“You don’t trust anyone… you’re a cold and heartless son of a bitch.”

“I have no idea who you are, so I have no reason to trust you. But you’re allowed to feel that way.”

Carter can’t stop the tears that fall.

“Let’s start from the top,” he says, voice soft, filled with anger, resentment. 

 

\- 2 years ago. Jasper was 24 -

 

They lay in the bed, it was Carters night to watch him. After their last op, Jasper was a mess. It had gone so terribly wrong, he was so terribly wounded, so terribly traumatized. He didn’t show it, but he always woke up screaming. It was rarely about the op. 

Carter wraps his arms around him, letting Jasper find solace in the sound of his heart beat. Jasper holds onto him, sinking into his firm body. He sniffles, sobbing softly into his chest, and he kisses the top of his head. 

“You know, it’s valentines day. I can be your date,” Carter teases.

“Gross, you’re like my brother.”

“What? A little brotherly love isn’t good enough for you?”

“We have traditions… we already made the reservation at Storks, like we do every Valentines.”

“Yeah, but I want you to be happy.”

“Just because I’m crying-”

“Jasper-”

“I’m okay.”

“It’s okay if you’re not.”

Jasper nuzzles into his chest, he doesn’t say anything. A strong hand squeezes his shoulder, his eyes shut, tears falling.

“Do you dream about home?” Carter whispers. “Is that why you get so upset after ops like that?”

“Yeah… my home was a bad place.”

“I know…”

“My name used to be Jason,” he admits. Carter nods.

“It suits you. You seem like a Jason.”

“I hate it.”

“What?”

“Being called Jason.”

“I won’t tell anyone.”

“Thank you.”

And later that day, when the sun was setting instead of rising, they went to Storks, and exchanged Valentines. Kaori, once they got back to Jasper’s, made him a mug of coffee with the betty boop mug she’d bought him that year. He’d sent flowers to her house that morning. He doesn’t know this is the last Valentines day he’ll spend with Carter, that his brother would leave.

 

\- present day - 

 

Walking out of the room, leaving Carter behind, that’s the worst thing he’d ever done. “I feel like I just found out he died,” he admits to Mel.

“Did he talk.”

“Told me everything.”

“Scared of you… I think I was scared of you,” she says soft, almost teasing. He nods, he was scared of him. He’d never felt so disappointed, so betrayed. She nudges him. “Faster we get this to Director Dallas, the faster we can get home to get ready. Our appointment at Storks is at 7.”

Jasper smiles. “Did Kaori get her flowers?” 

She nods. “Yeah she did. And Julius got us all chocolates, like always.” Jasper nods, kissing the top of Mel’s head. 

“Thank you… for staying.”

“Jasper, honey, even if a bomb was strapped to my chest, if the choice was between me and you? It’d always be us together. I go, you go too.”

He laughs, and she laughs too, pushing him playfully along. “Come  _ on _ , I’m straightening my hair, and that takes like ten years.”

“You might be better with the glitter clip,” he says softly. She smiles, rubbing his shoulder as she catches up to him, guiding him upstairs with a gentle hand. 

“You will be better… he doesn’t deserve your heartache, Jasper.”

Jasper nods. “I know… it’s just hard right now. At least Storks has good Mojitos.”

She nods. “It’s a good thing you have 3 hot valentines to pay you all the attention.”

He rolls his eyes. “Mac will appreciate that one.”

“Are you going to tell him?”

“I don’t know.”

They get upstairs to the ground level, and Kaori pops out from behind the counter receptionist counter and brings him a bright pink mug, with Johnny Bravo on it.

“Happy valentines day,” Kaori coos. “You didn’t get your mug earlier, you probably need it.”

“Your right, I so need it.”

They smile, and Julius joins them with Dallas.

“What are we doing?” Dallas asks.

“Admiring Jasper’s mug,” Mel says, smiling and Dallas nods, the group huddled in together. 

“How are you…?” Dallas treads lightly at Jasper, he’d be the closest to Carter.

“Like in General,” Julius continues. “You never sleep Valentines eve. I doubt having Mac a phone call away helped. You seem tired.”

Jasper rolls his eyes. “Can we get to reviewing the paper work? We have a reservation.”

“Of course, we’d hate for you four to miss it. Or is it five because of Mac?”

“Four…” Jasper assures, and they all laugh, their family falling back into place perfectly. This was where he belonged, this was where he was safe, and… so what, Carter left? Some people go… that doesn’t mean the love ends there. The world was messy, and love was messy.

Their family was still good, even with Carter missing.

 

\- 2 years ago - 

 

Jasper and him were on the front steps, beers in hand. 

“I don’t want to leave,” Carter says. “But…”

“Do what you have to do.”

“I will… anything I have to do.”

Jasper nods, he can’t look him in the eye.

“Jas?”

“Hm?”

“No matter what happens out there… I’m gonna come home. And you know, go to storks with you guys on Valentines, be there to kick your ass in training.”

Jasper gives a half hearted chuckle, his lips barely twisting up into a smile, his frown deepening. 

“I don’t want you to go,” he admits, and Carter pulls him into his arms, kissing the top of his head.

“I’m gonna come back for you… I’m always gonna come back for you. No matter what it takes… No matter what. I promise.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! This was just a very quick wip i always appreciate your reads <3 you guys are so wonderful thank you  
> i hope you enjoyed!  
> comments aren't required but always appreciated and enjoyed <3


End file.
